Zillionth Cotillion

Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined. - Thoreau

truth can be ugly

especially when it's the only one at the dance

still stuck in the past's two-step trance

willing to take yet another chance

i bow and take its hand

as i lead it out onto a killing floor

oblivious to the lit, red sign over the exit door

i twirl it 'round and 'round

with an occasional dip

inching ever closer to an emotional fat lip

we even do the twist

along with its dirty laundry list

a pointless waltz i know all too well

with its turgid, myopic triple-chin swell

thinking i'm finished, i bow and kiss its wrinkled hand

unable to ever take a firm, resolute stand

i tell myself i'll never sway with it ever again

but i still do the chicken, clucking with that old hen

sometimes a disconcerting limbo

just to see how low we can actually go

all tapped out

beginning to sweat

finishing neck to neck

cheek to cheek

not for a healing embrace but rather the meek

well dressed and chic

tangoing

up a foul smelling creek

Author's Note

"We are made happy when reason can discover no occasion for it. The memory of some past moments is more persuasive than the experience of present ones. There have been visions of such breadth and brightness that these motes were invisible in their light." - Thoreau

Reviews

[lydia grace]

this is excellent! i must confess i'm not great at reviewing but this is really lovely. these lines stood out to me: "i bow and take its hand / as i lead it out onto a killing floor / still stuck in the past's two-step trance." this was wonderfully haunting. great job!

[Pete]

wow. so kind. a dance i'd rather not keep doing. one that i'm getting all too good at. thank you lydia ... :)

[SheIsMe]

I absolutely enjoyed reading this. Wonderfully written! Love the rhythmic rhyming!

[Pete]

i hate having to bend down to my shortcomings! thank you ... :)

[Ruth]

You are one of my favourite Poets here Pete - this piece proves why :) Not only a brilliant title but an amazingly thought out sequence within this poem - I don't think anything can be added to it - you leave me in awe every time :)

[Pete]

thank you ruth, so kind. now if i could only stop myself from moving to the wrong beats of the past ... :)

[Ruth]

Just create your own beats - that way they mute out all other beats lol

[barleygirl]

How the 2 words in your title sound together make me cream my jeans. Delicious! I always enjoy your lively & far-reaching & witty wordplay, some of your signature moves here --> twisting a hackneyed phrase into something fresh & surprising: "dirty laundry list". I have friends like this. Never outright annoying so that blowing them off is needed, but swearing off them from time to time just for a rest. Or that other dance where I dip my toes in society but realize I've been in the wilderness too long & I can't go back. Love this poem (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Pete]

lol. should have told me you had cream - could use some in my morning coffee. your last statement about society and wilderness reminds of the three stooges episode where two, educated, upper-crust men make a bet over whether or not the stooges can be groomed to fit into society - needless to say they ultimately fail miserably unable to fit in - hilarious ... :)

[barleygirl]

There must be a poem in your 3 stooges share, but it's beyond me . . .

[Pete]

don't get me started ... :)

[Poetic Beauty]

Dancing with the past can be good or it can be dangerous. I like to talk a skip and a hop down that road. I try to stay closer hugging the curves of the fond memories

[Pete]

i can't seem to let go of the bad memories - they keep coming back. good advice about hugging the fond ones. better yet, i should throw out my dark dancing shoes ... :)

[John the Baptist]

The best thing about the past is that it's past. Except when you won't let it be. Too many are like the speaker in the poem. They continue with the same old dance, year after year. HDT's comment is sound, as usual.

[Pete]

i must like holding it, twirling and being dizzy ... :)